Less a threat and more coercion. (and I know that coercion is bad but you do what you have to do in the best interests of your patient) This is without the idea that maybe she needed a 'way out', to agree to come to hospital without seeming to lose face, and a 'threat' might be a good way to offer her that escape... Let me play the same 'choice' game with you... (a) You use all means reasonable to get your overdosing/self harming patient to a place of safety where they can be treated for their injuries and assessed by a psychiatrist. or (b) You leave the patient at home, where she further overdoses/self harms until she (mayb accidentally) kills herself. Even if she doesn't die, she doesn't get any form of assessment or treatment apart being asked to go and see her GP, something she is unlikely to do - so she gets worse and worse and never gains access to the care she needs because she keeps 'refusing'. I like my job, and I tend towards liking the whole idea of keeping people alive as an ethical standard to live by. In my mind a 'threat' is a reasonable use of 'force' in order to preserve the safety of the patient. Otherwise we'd end up in the position where a suicide attampt refuses to go to hospital - then kills themselves minutes after the ambulance leaves. I'll tell you now - the crew would lose their jobs. At no point did I intend Sectioning as a punishment - it's always with the patients best interest at heart - trust me, I can do without the aggro of dealing with a social worker and two Doctors...